[FredSolo]

After the meal, they sat down together at a couch and caught up with each other about what they had been doing for the past few years; Jason’s NS life, his time in university and subsequently to his current job while Natalie talked about Melbourne, studies, work and travels. He found out that Aunt Helen and Uncle Tommy (Natalie’s parents) couldn’t come along to Singapore due to some last minute complications in a business deal which needed them to stay behind. As Natalie had always wanted to return to SG and her parents do not want to disappoint the rest of the family by being a no-show again, they asked her to mingle with the relatives upon their behalf.

Eventually, the conversation shifted to bits about their love life.

Jason: So, I’ve heard you have been together with someone for quite some time already?

Natalie: Oh that? I’ve broken up with him already.

Jason: Woah… what happened?

Natalie: I found out last month that he had been secretly screwing with one of my close friends for what, a year? I actually caught him in the act in our apartment and broke up with him right there on the spot. To think how that little slut could have betrayed me like that after how I’ve always been looking out for her in college.

Jason: Oh my… I’m sorry to hear about that…

Natalie: Nah, I should have noticed the signs earlier on that he had been cheating behind my back. My only regret was that I had been a fool to have been deceived by them for so long and only suspected something wasn’t right much later on. Anyway, what about you though? Are you seeing anyone currently?

Jason: Me? Well, I just ended a relationship too some months back...

Natalie: Hmm, what happened?

Jason: Well, I met her through a mutual friend and we hit it off pretty well. We got together and things were pretty alright during the initial stage of our relationship. However, she started becoming really clingy and paranoid that I was cheating behind her back, which I never did. We argued a lot and I found myself compromising a lot for her. Plus she kept using sex to tie me down. Eventually I had enough of her antics and decided to call it quits and cut her off. Next thing I know, she got together with another guy barely a month after our relationship had ended.

Natalie: Ahhh I see… Well, you did the right thing by breaking it off with her. Being in a toxic relationship for so long is exhausting and unhealthy and it just won’t do you any good.

Jason: Yeah I figured that out too. I’m actually happier with how I’m leading my life now that she is out of the picture and I’m not sorry to admit that.

They sat in silence on the couch as they watched their younger cousins gambling on the table opposite them. Strangely, he felt a little glad that Natalie was now single even though he felt sorry for what she had went through. These days, Jason has been feeling a little sexually frustrated and deprived since the last time he had sex with his ex had been close to 5 months ago, and it isn’t helping him now that his favorite cousin is back in town and had physically grown even more matured than he had last saw her. Throughout their conversation, her hand had kept brushing lightly against his legs and he could have sworn her head is leaning closer towards his shoulder now. He wasn’t 100% certain if the feeling is mutual, but he had subconsciously developed a lust for his own cousin.